1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to a method and apparatus for identifying a medicinal substance and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for capturing and utilizing one or more optically-observable features of a container storing the medicinal substance to at least narrow a list of potential candidates from which the identification of the medicinal substance can be selected.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional drug vials, for example, typically include a label identifying the drug stored therein. The label can also include other information such as the concentration of the drug. Retrieving the proper vial to extract a desired amount of the medicinal substance from a pharmacy or other drug depot is commonly left to the ability of the clinician, who will make the selection based on the content appearing on the label.
However, one vial will often be selected from a large collection of vials storing different drugs, possibly bearing labels having an appearance similar to each other in many respects. Human error remains a possibility that could result in the selection of the wrong vial. And although barcoding is becoming a widely-adopted practice to expressly define the drug contained in the vial, labels can be damaged in transit and rendered difficult to accurately read.